Happy Holidays to all,
I hope you all were able to spend time with your family and friends over this past Thanksgiving weekend. For myself and my family we enjoyed good food, time with friends, lots of laughter; reflection time and we even watched a little football. In my family we have a tradition not to start any Christmas decorating until after Thanksgiving. We feel that Thanksgiving gets shortchanged otherwise, so we wait until the Friday or Saturday after. This year I was able to convince my daughter to help me decorate my office for the holiday as well as go shopping together. I do love the festive lights and pretty displays this time of year. The weather even seemed to cooperate by still being a beautiful sunny day but with cool temperature by Southern California standards.
After all the outside lights were done, we sat down and watched the movie “Inside Out” by Pixar Animation Studios. I just maybe the only therapist in America that hasn’t seen the movie. I found it to be a wonderful movie full of fun and laughter. The premise is about a young girl named Riley that lives in Minnesota (talk about a cold place) with her family and all was wonderful. Within her mind we are introduced to the five personifications of her basic emotions: Joy, Sadness, Fear, Disgust and Anger, as they come to life. The emotions live in “Headquarters”, which is Riley's conscious mind, where they influence Riley's actions and memories. Her new memories are housed in colored orbs, which are sent into long-term memory at the end of every waking period. (This orb thing is a great metaphor in illustrating what our brains do when we sleep.) The most important memories, known as "core" memories, are housed in a hub in Headquarters and power five "islands", each of which reflects a different aspect of Riley's personality. Joy does everything in her power to keep Riley in a happy state, but since she and the other emotions do not understand Sadness's purpose, they try to keep her from controlling the console. The story continues with the five emotions working together to keep Riley safe. I won’t spoil the movie, but if you haven’t seen it, I think it has some wonderful images and insights into our brains aka “Headquarters” and how we therapist type people help our clients to learn to regulate those emotions better. I can see many uses this film could have within the therapeutic setting. I may even show clips to my students and interns.
A couple of reminders. First, our chapter’s holiday party is on December 11, 2015 at 6:00 PM. Please register to receive the address. This party will replace our regularly-scheduled meeting. Secondly, we are starting a 3000 club and our first meeting will be held on January 30th at Dr. Catherine Wheeler’s office on Saturday 11:00-12:30 at 1411 Rimpau Ave. Ste. 213 Corona, 92879. The purpose will be to help support our interns and students as they go through the licensing process. This meeting is open to all healers regardless of your professional designation. It is my hope that this group will provide support, specialized training, and new networking opportunities for pre-licensed and licensed members and will provide a safe place to exchange ideas and learn from each other.
I will leave you now with a quote from D.M. Dellinger:
“This is my wish for you: peace of mind, prosperity through the year, happiness that multiplies, health for you and yours, fun around every corner, energy to chase your dreams, joy to fill your holidays!”
Until next time
Sherry
